At last week’s Grad Fair, Cougs grabbed gowns or regalia. Employment was a popular discussion topic. Occasionally, students said that they were still interested in finding a career placement. Of the students who already had a job lined up, it was common for manufacturing (specifically steel) to be their first destination after graduation. What about manufacturing was drawing soon-to-be graduates, such that they already had placement and were confident in what they’d be doing?
One Coug was kind enough to entertain my questions and reveal that the recent upturn in the stock market, after a dismal 2022, had lead to rising demand for inputs, particularly steel. I looked into it for a few seconds and couldn’t ignore that automotive manufacturing accelerated in the first two months of 2023 (8% year-on-year or 1.3% in February). I’ll call that 10% annually (as an engineer, I love #BadRounding). I can see that early-2023 is an excellent time to seek employment in steel and that this conclusion was not lost on business students, who had registered to graduate. Way to go, Carson College of Business!
Like any industry, steel takes several types of people to remain strong. As a theme, this means working in an office, not pouring molten iron nor steel. I would guess that Cougs from every college (e.g. CAS, CAHNRS, or VCEA) work in steel but that not one had majored in metallurgy. Full disclosure: I’m confident that other WSU colleges have graduates in steel but I listed the three where I have spent a lot of time. I’m confident that Cougs from the colleges of Nursing, Education, or Communication work in steel. Extreme disclosure: I own a tiny bit of stock in steel, automotive manufacturing, technology, finance, and healthcare.
